MP voices doubt on rejection of oil jobs

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: The government’s decision to require students applying for State scholarship to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has been dominating discussions at the National Assembly.

Chairperson of the parliamentary Educational Affairs Committee MP Dr Awda Al-Ruweie has affirmed that his committee supports decisions aimed at improving the quality of education in the country.

He asserted the committee has always been keen on bridging differences of opinion on issues in order to come up with a unified opinion which serves the interest of the country and its people.

In a related development, a parliamentary source, who preferred not to be named, revealed that the committee will seek audience this week with Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Hamid Al-Azmi and other ministry officials to discuss the latest developments concerning the IELTS decision which has divided the House.

In an effort to discredit the government’s IELTS decision, MP Riyadh Al-Adasani prepared a brief study on the IELTS which focused on procedural and financial aspects, and its effect on the national budget.

The study concluded that the level of English education in the country is ‘low’ as per the IELTS grade. This is after the study showed the financial and administration data related to the cost shouldered by the State, number of internal and foreign scholarship students, and statistics and official dossier in this regard.

Al-Adasani pointed out the best investment is in human development, arguing that plans should not be on reducing expenditure. Instead, the ministry should have plans and strategies for improvement of academic performance and better English education in public schools, he stressed.

He described the government’s decision as impractical at the moment and untimely because the executive authority did not give the concerned students enough time to develop their English language skills.

He disclosed the government set the condition for those who wish to apply for State scholarship to pass the IELTS with an overall grade of not less than five points in all sections.

Meanwhile, MP Safaa Al-Hashim tackled the unemployment issue. She said she does not trust the information provided by an official in the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to the parliamentary Employment and Kuwaitization Committee about graduates of the College of Petroleum Engineering at Kuwait University turning down jobs offered by the oil sector.

Al-Hashim described the official’s claim that graduates from the college in question do not desire to work in the oil sector due to the nature of work and the working hours as “untrue”.

She asked representatives of the commission to verify the claim and present evidence in writing. She warned that in case there is no proof and no one is held accountable for such claims, she will not hesitate in using the constitutional tools at her disposal.

On the other hand, MP Muhammad Al-Otaibi has unveiled his plan to submit a proposal on deductions in the housing loan installment plan in cases where infrastructure and services have not been completed in new housing cities.

The MP cited the case of a citizen who received his dream house only to find out that the infrastructure and services in his new residential town are incomplete; yet he was forced to start paying installment to Kuwait Credit Bank.

Al-Otaibi explained such delays are caused by the concerned agencies and contractors that failed to accomplish their tasks on time. He pointed out this causes inconvenience to citizens who are then forced to use infrastructure and acquire necessary services in the closest residential town.

The MP said the installment plan should be activated only when all infrastructure and services are in place and fully functional. The most important of which is an operational police station, medical center, school for all academic levels, and a cooperative society or its branch.

He also suggested formation of a ministerial committee to supervise and ensure that the infrastructure in new residential areas is in place and services are functional.

This is in addition to announcements in local newspapers stating that all the service projects have been handed over. The installment payment plan is activated the day after publication of the announcement in accordance with the mechanism set by Kuwait Credit Bank or the State Ministry for Housing Affairs.

Talking about the oil sector, Chairman of the Budgets and Final Accounts Committee Adnan Sayyed Abdul-Samad revealed the committee discussed the proposed budget of Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) for fiscal 2018/2019.

The meeting also looked into the comments of the State Audit Bureau in its annual report on the audit result for 2017/2018 fiscal year, indicating that lack of conformity with partners in Saudi Arabia impeded the process of remedying observations recorded by the bureau on the oil company.

The meeting found out that majority of the comments in question focused on the contracts and 0.58 percent variation in orders.

The committee explained that suspending oil production in Khafji oil fields in 2014 and in Wafra oil fields in 2015 led to loss of $10.2 billion in March 2017, let alone the loss which is technically known as oil migration (hydrocarbon migration).

Despite complete production shutdown for several years in Wafra and Khafji, (KGOC) insisted on production increase from 133,000 to 220,000 barrels daily without any justification.

The committee underscored the need for restructuring the oil sector, taking into consideration the rising operational expenditures of KGOC and unsubstantiated budget estimate for fiscal 2018 which increased by nine percent of the actual data for 2016 with production suspension in place.

In addition, the committee indicated that the budget for half of the current fiscal year has been depleted. Therefore, the budget estimate seems to be illogically based on something which entails curbing such estimates.

Furthermore, the number of jobs in the company reduced by 329 positions, but the salary and allowance estimates dropped by four percent only and it does not correspond with the drop of employment positions.

It is worth mentioning that the operational expenditure of KGOC was taken from the State budget through direct deduction from the oil revenue; hence, the need to curb it since the State has been suffering from budget deficits for years.